He added: “Rudi's is growing strongly in both the organic and gluten-free segments. They have a tremendous innovation queue in place. And we believe the brand's extendable beyond bread and baked goods.

“We're also excited by the opportunities to grow Rudi's Organic Bakery across channels, as well as increase its profitability via productivity and SG&A [selling, general & administrative] synergies.”

Significant distribution white space opportunity

Rudi’s - which generated around $60m in sales in 2013, and produces around 60 products including USDA-certified organic, and GFCO-certified (gluten-free) products from its bakery in Boulder, Colorado - “fits all of our key acquisition criteria”, said Simon.

“First, we always look for a leading organic brand in the natural channel. Secondly, we look for brands that are in high-growth categories, and Rudi's is in a high-growth category: whole grains, organic and gluten-free bread and baked good sales are up double digits.

“We also look for brands with significant distribution white space opportunity, and Rudi's has that, as their top five SKUs average only 16% ACV in the AOC channel.

“We also look for businesses that have significant SG&Asynergies savings available, as well as supply-chain productivity opportunities. Now remember, Rudi's is located in Boulder, CO. We already have a facility in Boulder with our Celestial seasonings business, so there's an opportunity for SG&Asynergies there.”

As for productivity, he added, “Jim Meiers [Hain's chief supply chain officer] and his team have been at Rudi's Bakery all this week, identifying and prioritizing productivity opportunities.”

Mainstream retailers devoting more space to organic and natural

Most of the call, however, was devoted to growth opportunities for natural & organic products in mainstream grocery.

Irwin Simon: "Why is consumption with a lot of the big CPG companies not growing? It's the consumer buying more and more natural organic products."

Said Simon: “More retailers like Kroger, like Publix... are, bringing more and more natural organic products within their stores…there's more space being dedicated.”

He added: “This year, there's $700bn of food sold. And why is consumption with a lot of the big CPG companies not growing? It's the consumer buying more and more natural organic products.”

In the third quarter, Hain Celestial U.S. sales were up 15% to $319.5m, while group revenues were up 22% to $557m, said John Carroll, CEO of Hain Celestial USA, who listed a series of distribution gains at Kroger, Publix, Sprouts, Target, Walmart and Whole Foods.